Calcium ATPase expression in the oviducts of the skink, Lampropholis guichenoti

Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol. 2007 Aug;147(4):1090-4. doi: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2007.03.029. Epub 2007 Mar 31.

Abstract

Lampropholis guichenoti is an oviparous lizard that lays eggs with a calcareous outer shell. We used immunofluorescence microscopy to describe the occurrence and distribution of Ca2+ ATPase pumps in the uterus of L. guichenoti at different stages of the reproductive and egg-shelling cycles. Ca2+ ATPase pumps were not demonstrated by immunofluorescent techniques in any uterine tissue until egg-shelling had commenced and at least partly calcified eggs were in the uterus. During egg-shelling, Ca2+ ATPase pumps occur on the apical and baso-lateral surfaces of uterine epithelial cells, and those of associated shell glands in the stroma of the uterus. We conclude that Ca2+ ATPase pumps provide a major mechanism for deposition of the calcareous eggshell of L. guichenoti and that the pumps are up-regulated when required in the reproductive cycle. Furthermore, it is likely that specific calcium glands in the stroma of the uterus are involved in the rapid transport required for egg-shelling, but the differential contribution of luminal and glandular epithelial cells is not known.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Blotting, Western
  • Calcium-Transporting ATPases / metabolism*
  • Female
  • Fluorescent Antibody Technique
  • Lizards / metabolism*
  • Oviducts / cytology
  • Oviducts / enzymology*
  • Ovum / enzymology

Substances

  • Calcium-Transporting ATPases